ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Division Spotlight
Materials Science & Technology
The objectives of MSTD are: promote the advancement of materials science in Nuclear Science Technology; support the multidisciplines which constitute it; encourage research by providing a forum for the presentation, exchange, and documentation of relevant information; promote the interaction and communication among its members; and recognize and reward its members for significant contributions to the field of materials science in nuclear technology.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2025
Latest News
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
G. Stange, H. Yeom, B. Semerau, K. Sridharan, M. Corradini
Nuclear Technology | Volume 182 | Number 3 | June 2013 | Pages 286-301
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-A16980
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Pool boiling critical heat flux (CHF) measurements have been performed on stainless steel and zirconium wires in nanofluids consisting of oxide nanoparticles (7 to 250 nm) dispersed in water as well as in high-purity water after coating these wires with a variety of materials and methods. For the nanofluids study, nanoparticles of titania, alumina, zirconia, and yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) were investigated for various sizes and concentrations. Results showed improvements in CHF in the range of 50% to 100%, with titania and zirconia exhibiting the highest and the lowest levels of improvement, respectively. Wires were coated separately with the same oxide nanoparticle materials, as well as pure titanium nanoparticles, using the electrophoretic deposition (EPD) technique and by nanofluid boiling. EPD coatings yielded superior and more consistent improvements in CHF values in clean water, suggesting that this could be a more practical approach than using nanofluids. Coating uniformity plays an important role in dictating the levels of CHF enhancement. In all cases, titania provided for high levels of improvement, while YSZ showed similarly high levels of improvement in some cases. Pure titanium coatings exhibited lower levels of improvement, indicating qualitatively that the lower wettability on metallic substrates (as compared to oxides) may play a role in dictating CHF improvements. Titanium, however, exhibits better adhesion to metallic substrates than do oxides, which is an important property for applications in a reactor environment. Given this, the improvements in CHF achieved by titanium coatings were sufficient to justify further study.